My Kingdom for a decent Hot Dog

I realize that numerous "Our Fathers" and "Hail Marys" will be require for committing this sin, but I just gotta ask. Since the absence of Hebrew National frankfurters from the markets here in Mexico, I have not found a decent frankfurter. I know that there are many Mexican brands and some of them are or should be good. I just don't have the time and/or the gastric endurance to try them all.

What are the best brands of Mexican frankfurters? I really need a decent hot dog with sauerkraut and onions and mustard in the worst way. uj

Re: [Uncle Jack] My Kingdom for a decent Hot Dog

We've given up on finding hot dogs we like and have used your recipes posted here for various kinds of homemade sausages, put into buns and served with onions and mustard.

Sauerkraut won't work with the ones Norma has made, but I bet a good bratwurst or kielbasa recipe is somewhere on the web. We did happen to find a three-pound link of U.S.-made kielbasa in the freezer at Carey's imported foods in San Miguel recently and have had three delicious meals from that--hope they order a new batch soon. Costco sometimes has Johnsonville cheesy brats. Improvise, improvise.

Re: [Uncle Jack] My Kingdom for a decent Hot Dog

I, likewise, am a hot dog fiend. Especially Chicago style or in the manner of Caspers in the Bay Area. I have tried but have not succeeded in finding a truly flavorful frankfurter in Mexico. One of my important criteria is that the frankfurter should have the old fashioned skin that causes a burst of flavor when bitten into. As best I can tell, these are not sold down here or at least I haven't found them. For a while, Cafe Due in San Antonio sold a hot dog made with a pretty flavorful weiner made by Viking, I believe.

I do like the way they make hot dogs here with tomatoes, onions, chopped jalapenos, mustard and, perhaps, mayonnaise. If the weiners were more spicy and flavorful, these dogs would be really good. And, don't be attacking Bubba for suggesting mayonnaise on a hot dog as criminal as that may sound. When I must have a hot dog, the Oxxo dogs prepared as I just stated have to do. It helps to order a XX Lager with which to wash it down.

It seems to me that Mexicans favor very bland sausages and cheeses in general, at least in Jalisco. You can go into, say, a Comercial Mexicana, and find a hundred different brands of frankfurters and other sausages, all bland and relatively tasteless. Maybe Carol's suggestion regarding imported sausages is a good one.

I must look about for really good frankfurters or other flavorful sausage substitutes on my next deli run to Guadalajara.

Re: [Uncle Jack] My Kingdom for a decent Hot Dog

Hebrew National frankfurters are available at Super Lake in San Antonio Tlayacapan. Just yesterday I spotted a large supply of them there. I personally think they are overrated but they do answer to a higher authority, after all which is good. The old fashioned franks with the skins are way better than the mild franks usually found around Ajijic. I used to buy the Caspers brand in the Bay Area which have the old fashioned texture and flavor but don't know their availability elsewhere in the U.S. market.

Re: [Bubba] My Kingdom for a decent Hot Dog

Darn. For whatever reason I'm currently having a hot dog Jones so I dug up this old thread to see if it could provide any guidance. Indeed, there are countless brands of Mexican hotdogs for sale, but I don't know which are any good. (And yes, you can still get Hebrew National at Superlake in San Antonio Tlay., but with the recent economic collapse, I'm not sure I can qualify for a loan to pay what they charge for an 8-pack.)

Re: [tashby] My Kingdom for a decent Hot Dog

Tashby, that was truly quite a find. I didn’t ever think someone’s taste for a good hot dog would make the Mexican Kitchen forum as something special, and I for one totally agree, because I too, love delicious “chilidogs.”

Waaaay back when I was about 12 years old, eager and hungry, my cousin who was a year older than I, would wait until dark to give our boss back the unsold news papers we didn’t sell on city streets. We’d pay our boss for newspapers sold, so we could hurry up and meet the demands of growling stomachs wanting to eat on the way home.

To this day, I clearly still remember how much we looked forward to getting to the corner where we’d catch the trolley but were always allayed at that same corner by the aroma of hotdogs and everything that goes with them. It was as if the air in that whole corner was permeated with an invisible hook which yanked at our rumbling stomachs for the first delicious bite of a steaming, hot delicious chilidog…….Yummmmm

We’d jump up on the stools and with great anticipation always order two chilidogs with onions, relish and mustered and I was in heaven. The growling would subside and sometimes I’d even have a third, depending if my trolley home to the projects had arrived or not. If it did, hotdog and all, we’d jump on and scarf it down while listening to the clanging cadence of iron wheels telling us we’re going home after a full day of school and selling newspapers into the evening amidst the traffic congested streets of the big city.

Its funny how something like that stays with you all your life. These are reflections of the very young, lean years, of a boy growing up, and the son of teenage parents who taught me the value of a dollar through watching them constantly struggle and working to make ends meet.

My very old and dear mother, still alive, bless her heart, looks at me with worn struggled eyes which knowingly looks and tells me something when she says to me, “ I’m so proud of you son, look at how well you’ve done, even though you were born on your poor grandma’s kitchen table.” She edges out a smile through the wrinkles of her life and her beautiful face lights up, she puts the palms of her hands on the cheeks of my face, pulls me toward her and kisses me on the forehead followed by another hug and again says, I’m so proud of you…

Excuse the choke but I digress. Today, like 58 years ago, I still love a good hot chilidog with onions, relish and mustard while in the background I sometimes can still hear the metal wheels clanging me home to the projects of my youth……How times change – or do they really…..

Re: [esperanza] My Kingdom for a decent Hot Dog

Thank you Espeeranza. I didn't go for the Johnsonville Polish sausage, but instead opted for the Johnsonville "Salchicha Picante de Res", that also includes a bit of Jalapeno worked in. (The Polish I saw were pork and I wanted to find a beef frank.)

It did the trick, and even had a bit of a kick. I grilled it on our new asador, same with the bolillos. I'm going to withhold my final opinion on the frankfurter until I have another, however. My judgment last night may have been clouded by the craving.

(And yes, I noticed the propano responses. I need to spend a little quality time with my oven and cooktop before returning to the thread. We're still setting up our kitchen and haven't had much chance to cook yet.)

Re: [LintonRobinson] My Kingdom for a decent Hot Dog

I agree, the salchichas para asar are a lot tastier than the regular Mexican hot dogs. If you really crave a good hot dog and want to spend a bunch of pesos, you can order from Kurson Kosher in D.F. They have all-beef franks which are quite good, also pastrami, corned beef, etc. A few of us here in Mazatlán combined our orders to save some on the shipping. Still pricy, but the products I got sure taste good! http://www.kursonkosher.com/htm/embutidos.htm

Re: [LintonRobinson] My Kingdom for a decent Hot Dog

Yeah, it always bugs me in Mexico that the "salchicheria" section have 139 kinds of chorizo, a couple of nasty hotdogs and no real sausage.

Except that lately I've been seeing some big fat red sausages popping up that aren't too bad. I like them on bolillos.

Thing to ask for is "salchichas para asar"

Corona makes a really delicious chorizo para asar--it doesn't fall apart as you cook it. We love it chopped up and sautéed with diced onions, a minced chile serrano or two, and par-boiled potatoes, with a little queso Oaxaca melted on top at the end of cooking.

Re: [LintonRobinson] My Kingdom for a decent Hot Dog

I've been very pleased with the "Obertal" brand sausages as sold in Costco, Sam's and I think in Mega. (At least in their Morelia locations.)

The Chorizo Español is juicy and very tasty when grilled, the Chorizo Argentino is less spicy but still good, with a good texture. Sam's has a variety of Obertal Chorizo a la Sidra which has tempted me, but I haven't tried it yet. Their Chorizo Parillero is not bad. The Longaniza is less distinguished but still pretty good.

True, none of these are "Hot Dogs", per se, but they are very tasty in their own right.

There are also the Empire Kosher Turkey Frankfurters, sold in Costco and I think at Sam's; much cheaper than the others but they haven't appealed to me enough to buy the rather large package.

Next, we might discuss where to buy good, sharp mustard at a reasonable price. Even French's Dijon went over $40 MN a middlin' bottle on Mega's shelves. I just mixed my own horseradish mustard, but I wasn't pleased with the results.

Re: [esperanza] My Kingdom for a decent Hot Dog

Our stores here in northern Mexico are well-stocked with the ubiquitous fat red salchichas para asar. They come already split, stuffed with a white melting cheese, and wrapped with bacon. I can't handle the texture of the mystery meat inside and personally think they are nasty. My adult kids love them for grilling, usually with quacamole and thin slices of carne asada. No Sunday afternoon BBQ or other family celebration is possible without them. No brand names, no list of ingredients. (See my recent post about the quarter horse we rescued from being sold to the "salchicha man" several years ago and you will never eat them again.)

We also get things that look like regular thin weiners, also no brand name. We use them to sneak meds to our Rottweilers. They highly recommend them for special occasions!!

And have you priced Vienna sausages here in Mexico?? At our local Soriana they are located in the exclusive imported foods section, right next to the wines and liquors. Cost a fortune. In Chiapas, ten years ago, a small can which goes for around 38 cents in the US, sold for 13 pesos. My daughter would clean all the floors in my house in exchange for a couple of cans.

Re: [Anonimo] My Kingdom for a decent Hot Dog

How convenient that this conversation has turned to Chorizo. At the risk of making it sound like we only eat tube-shaped meat, we had a Chorizo disaster at breakfast the other day. I forget which brand we tried, but it was "Chorizo Ranchero" and it turned into an inedible mess. Is "Chorizo para asar" the way to distinguish that it's a type of Chorizo that holds together when cut up and fried (or grilled)?

Although I enjoy my chorizo pan fried with majority of grease paper toweled off, then all else is added and when piping hot and served, sprinkling grated, cheese on top accents it very nicely.

In a rush, my wife puts the chorizo in a covered bowl in the micro until hot and cooked to a consistency ready for the rest of the ingredients, she mixes it all together and micro’s it for another minute or so until piping hot and ready. Add the graded cheese and it’s good to go.

Re: [tashby] My Kingdom for a decent Hot Dog

How convenient that this conversation has turned to Chorizo. At the risk of making it sound like we only eat tube-shaped meat, we had a Chorizo disaster at breakfast the other day. I forget which brand we tried, but it was "Chorizo Ranchero" and it turned into an inedible mess. Is "Chorizo para asar" the way to distinguish that it's a type of Chorizo that holds together when cut up and fried (or grilled)?

Yes, chorizo para asar is the kind that holds together. I love these split and grilled, split and barbecued, or split lengthwise and then sliced across and grilled in a little butter, or best of all, the way I described in an earlier post--sauteed with onions, minced chile serrano, parboiled diced potato, and Oaxaca cheese melted on top. Mmmm...that might have to be lunch on Wednesday, a good foil for massive amounts of turkey, gravy, and all the fixin's on Thursday.

By the way, lest anyone here in the Mexican Kitchen think that this tube-shaped meat thread is a fluke and that we are all low-class eaters: I also post on a chef-oriented website with a Mexican Kitchen-type forum. A couple of years ago, a Mexican hot dog thread reached well over 1000 (yes, 1000) posts. This on a site dedicated to *ahem* fine cuisine.